Friday, March 11, 2011

Local Media Hype

First, let me say that what happened in Japan was horribly sad and people should help if they can.

I don't understand the local media; although you would think living in the Midwest I would be immune to all the hype they portray. It was kind of a strange phenomenon that we used to joke about at work, and any chance a TV stations got they would break away from programming to tell us about a thunder or snow storm. Even if there wasn't a tornado, but conditions were ripe for one, it was like the start of the Apocalypse with their maps, radar and news trucks.

However, most people would continue golfing, fishing or gardening until trees started to fall around them, because this was the upper Midwest and conditions were always ripe for bad weather. It's kind of like saying it might be overcast and misty in Seattle, newsflash it's always overcast and misty in Seattle.

So today I witnessed this type of reporting here in the Bay Area. The media is like that friend who wants to make everything about them or put a local twist on it. Most people know of Chinatown, with the largest Chinese community outside of Asia, but there is also Japantown. In fact over 30 percent of the city of San Francisco is made up of Asian people. So instead of reporting about what was going on in Japan they had to tie-in some local hardships.

From their news helicopters and vans they showed the marina with the boats getting tossed around, but then not being dramatic or emotional enough someone must've decided it was a good idea to take their vans to Japantown and find distraught relatives. It was sad, instead of preying on those hurting how about telling us what we can do to help.